


Nightly Routines

by iasc (peshk)



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Other, fwp (fluff without plot), mostly rambling woops, nonbinary Pyro, not sure where the plot went actually, there's more fluff than anything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-04 08:07:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11551047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peshk/pseuds/iasc
Summary: All things considered, night was the engineer's favorite time to work. After the rest of the team had retired to their rooms, a pleasant, peaceful quiet would settle over the base. This quiet was more than he was used to nowadays, more quiet than he'd been used to even in his quiet, little hometown in Texas. Back home, there were cicadas and grasshoppers to fill the silence at night, but here, all the singing insects had been chased off by gunfire and explosion. Or perhaps he just couldn't hear them now. Years of listening to gunshots an inch away would do that to a person's hearing. This new, heavy quiet was more than he was used to, and maybe unnerved the engineer a bit, but it was nothing a soft, static-filled tune played through his old radio wouldn't fix. And it was still a mighty fine atmosphere for his work.





	Nightly Routines

**Author's Note:**

> it's been a long time since i've done any writing tbh?? so this is kinda clunky woops. it's more me going off on tangents than actual plot lmao. also shoutout to my friend for letting me use like,90% of her pyro headcanons

There was only so much time in the day that the engineer could get work done. Early mornings were spent waking up, making and scarfing down breakfast, and, more often than not, keeping the peace between the tired, grumpy, and sometimes hungover men. Not many of them seemed to wake up in a good mood. The majority of the day was spent on the battlefield, of course, and while that was technically all his job entailed, and the only part he really got paid for, it wasn't the only kind of work he wanted to get done. Most evenings were spent either drinking to the team's victory, or drinking to the team's failure. Dell was happy to join in on that, more often than that, because who wanted to spend a day working, only to go straight to working on something else? Normally, his drinking was light, and he kept to only a beer or two at most. Working was much harder when he was too drunk to read his own handwriting.

That left the nights. All things considered, night was the engineer's favorite time to work. After the rest of the team had retired to their rooms, a pleasant, peaceful quiet would settle over the base. This quiet was more than he was used to nowadays, more quiet than he'd been used to even in his quiet, little hometown in Texas. Back home, there were cicadas and grasshoppers to fill the silence at night, but here, all the singing insects had been chased off by gunfire and explosion. Or perhaps he just couldn't hear them now. Years of listening to gunshots an inch away would do that to a person's hearing. This new, heavy quiet was more than he was used to, and maybe unnerved the engineer a bit, but it was nothing a soft, static-filled tune played through his old radio wouldn't fix. And it was still a mighty fine atmosphere for his work.

His nightly work varied from project to project, but could all be classified under "engineer work," obviously. His projects oriented around work, of course. Tinkering with this, building that, blueprinting something else entirely. Some projects took only one night to finish, just a quick update to keep his teleporter operating as it should, but others could span for several nights, sometimes months. The engineer did his best to stay as well rested as he could, but this had never been his strong point. He rarely knew when to call it quits for the night. Especially not when a big project was near completion. The night he'd finished putting together a robotic hand he'd spent months working on, he'd been so sleep-deprived that the process of donning it had been.. unconventional to put it lightly. Gory, to put it less so. The medic had been willing to help out, but he'd been reprimanded for getting so little sleep. He tried to be better about it now. With less than perfect results.

Dell was easily more than a week into a new project now, with little more results than a few scrapped prototypes. Slow progress was nothing new to the engineer, and he had plenty of patience to get through it. It was the lack of sleep that was the problem. He could hear the rhythmic ticking of the clock hanging on the wall across the room, an ever-present reminder of the time, one that he now ignored. He hadn't bothered to check the time in -- well, a while now. If he didn't check, surely time would slow down, right? It was hardly true, and he knew it, but it was what kept him from sparing even a single glance towards the large analog clock. Instead, he kept his focus on the blueprints in front of him, checking his math for the third, fourth, fifth time. Assured that these calculations were, in fact, correct, he turned his attention to the piece of half-built machinery in his hands. Something just wasn't working quite right, and he couldn't figure out what. A rumbling hum of thought escaped him as he ran through a mental checklist of what could possibly be off. Lost in thought now, he missed the quiet knock on his door, and, a moment later, the sound of footsteps accompanied by the soft squeaking of rubber.

Not long after signing off on the contract to work for TFI and officially starting work there, the pyro had taken a liking to him. It'd been surprising, but not unwelcome. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't taken a shining to them, as well. It was hard to want to avoid them what with how much they did for him during matches. His job would be a hell of a lot harder without their efforts. They looked out for him, and he'd quickly started doing the same. So it was no surprise when, after the incident involving his now-robotic hand, the pyro had started concerning themself with the engineer's sleeping habits. He couldn't complain, not really; it was sweet of them, and he figured it was probably for the best that he didn't fall asleep mid-match. Still, he wasn't the happiest to have to give up time on his projects. He often had to be persuaded to bed, a feat that might've been difficult for most, given his stubborn streak. But his stubborn streak was no match for the pyro, it seemed. They had their ways.

It wasn't until the pyro approached the engineer, leaning down over his hunched figure and slinging their arms around his shoulders from behind, that he realized they were there. Surprised, he lifted his head, and was met with a faceful of messy, curly hair, and a smile, the mask they normally donned to cover it now pulled off and shoved into their pocket. His surprise melted into a crooked smile as he realized who it was, leaving the partially constructed machinery on the desk in favor of relaxing back against the chair.

"Aw, hell, it can't be too late, can it?" As Dell spoke, he cast a glance up at the clock on the wall, squinting at it to make out the time.

"Yes. It's very late. It's bedtime," was the pyro's response, quiet and raspy, and much easier to understand than with the mask. Their voice was one he loved hearing.

It'd taken a while for them to be comfortable around him without their mask. It'd taken a while for them to be comfortable sharing a lot of things with him. But all things given, Dell figured they were well within their rights to be uneasy, and had given them nothing but patience. Waiting was the name of the game, waiting and proving that he wouldn't react the wrong way. Eventually, he'd learned things about them. He'd learned their name, of course, Mo, and that it was a nickname, but they didn't care for their full name, and so he hadn't learned that. He'd learned what they looked like without the mask, face mottled with burn scars and hair messy from them cutting it themself, and that they were wonderful to look at all the same. He'd learned that they grown up speaking Spanish, and that they thought it was much easier to speak than English, but they didn't know who they'd learned it from. He'd eventually learned, after a long night of confessions and maybe a drink or two, that they were an overzealous kisser, and that he didn't mind one bit. There was plenty more to learn about them, and he would wait until the end of the world to learn about them.

A sigh left Dell as he considered his options. Mo was incredibly persistent, so his chances of getting out of going to bed completely were slim to none. But maybe he could get a little more time to work. Just long enough to figure out what was wrong with this blasted thing. Distracted once again by it, his good hand ran through the beard he'd unintentionally began growing a couple weeks ago. Mo, having learned that this was a sign that he was deep in thought again, let out a playfully melodramatic sigh.

"Deeeeeelllll!" His name was stretched into several exasperated syllables, and his attention was pulled away once again as they pressed their nose into his beard, seemingly trying to bury themself in it, before turning their attention to pepper kisses in the general vicinity of his mouth. Their inaccuracy drew a chuckle from him, and he felt them smile in reaction, drawing giggles from them. The engineer turned his head towards them now to make it easier to kiss him, warmth blooming in his chest as they finally succeeded and their lips met his. Perhaps work could wait.

"Alright, alright." Dell gave one last chuckle as he pulled away, getting up now. He didn't have to look to know Mo would be sporting some smug, victorious expression. The rascal. He didn't mind one bit, especially not when they slid a gloved hand into his own to lead him to his room.

They paused at the door to Dell's bedroom, releasing his hand now in favor of leaning down and pressing a kiss to his forehead. Some nights, they'd spend the night with him, as if to make sure he did, in fact, get to sleep, but there were plenty of nights they seemed to want to spend by themself. The engineer understood, he would never push them. Still, he wouldn't mind a real goodnight kiss. He had to stretch up on his toes to get it from the taller, and he could feel the smile on their lips at this fact. 

"Not stayin' tonight?" He asked as he pulled away, to which Mo answered with a shake of their head, messy hair bouncing. "Well alright, then. Goodnight, darlin'."

"Night, Dell." With one more beaming smile at him, they left him to it, heading back down the hall, hopefully to bed as well. 

He was left now to get to bed, now aware of the tiredness that weighed down on his shoulders and eyelids. Accompanied by this was the pleasant warmth that he was so often left with after Mo had gone on their way. Often times, his nightly routine would consist of mentally running through blueprints, projects, and updates until he fell asleep, but as of late, and especially tonight, his mind was instead on Mo. Their beaming smile, the soft, happy sideways glances they cast at him, their hand in his. And especially their chapped, but still pleasant kisses, and the way they often smiled into a kiss, sometimes interrupting it with a fit of giggles. Mo was the last thing on his mind most nights, before he drifted off to sleep.


End file.
